yeah, but all of the other tracks that were included were relevant to metallica..... songs metallica had covered and or were of bands they were influenced by.
lolno. even if you love the Beatles, this game doesn't look even mildly challenging on expert guitar, bass or drums. ill stick to the regular rock bands.
That last "negative" thing is a positive. I liked GH Metallica, but I would have liked it a lot more if it had all Metallica rather than Metallica and bands you may or may not like - hey I like Samhain and Motorhead, but not when I'm paying for Metallica.
I can appreciate the Beatles even though I did not grow up with them. However, I would not be surprised if this game sold poorly compared to Guitar Hero 5 and even GH:Metallica. The kids that were born in the 90s and are in their teens right now have absolutely no interest in the band, let alone a game comprised of songs that just sound "old." I will be buying the game myself but after talking to a large group of 10-13 yr olds at a pop warner football game yesterday, survey says the only people that will be buying this game are baby boomers and those who purchase every single version of RB and GH that are released.
Chances are EA is going to lose money on this until the game receives a significant price drop.
@-Skyline-: Voted Crecente 12': actually i do. trust me when i say that people like us that were exposed to the music growing up, are a very small minority.
I was really hoping for at least one song in the main game mode to be completely drowned out by audience noise, just as a funny tip of the hat to the reason the Beatles stopped touring in real life.
@dowingba: That's actually something not mentioned in this review. The game does have a "Realistic" setting for the crowd, which makes them so loud that you can baaaarely hear the music.
@dowingba: apparently there is a setting called "realistic mode" that enhances the crowd audio. I'll find out for sure on Wednesday when I scoop my copy and play it into the ground.
Not to nitpick, but the "I got blisters on my fingers!" thing wasn't some lost nugget that Harmonix dusted off. That was always there at the end of the song.
Here's what I want to know (I'm getting this either way but I still want to know.) Do I get to sing + play guitar simultaneously with a headset plugged into my guitar or do I still need an expensive microphone stand that I don't really want?
Really, I'd enjoy this game the most if I could BE George or John, playing their guitar part and singing their part of the harmony.
(1) Why would you want "Rock Band" to play differently? That's just stupid. If they made changes, then I'll have to buy new plastic instruments -- and why would I want to do that, when the plastic guitars for RB1 work perfectly fine.
(2) Why would you want "filler songs"? The Beatles have how many albums and how many songs? Already, there's quite a few popular songs that are missing for the 45 on the disc.
@jamBot: They can change how it plays without having to have new instruments.
One thing I've always felt should've been there from the beginning is timing judgement. The ability for players to freely select their own scrolling speed would be great, too. Stop treating speed like a cheat. We shouldn't all be locked to a slow speed if someone is on Easy and everyone else is on Expert.
@jamBot: While it makes sense, I wouldn't have minded if they had, say, Harry Nilsson in the song list. I know John Lennon had mentioned he was a fan, and I believe he became a friend of the band.
Also, why not have some of the solo stuff for after they broke up? Perhaps even introduce it as a separate branch that put the songs back on par with the original Guitar Hero games where you do just one or two parts rather than the whole thing.
Then, for a kicker, perhaps an alternate-reality section where they accepted Lorne Michaels's piddly $4,000 check to re-unite on Saturday Night Live. They'd play "Come Together" just for their own amusement.
Yes, but was that a Harmonix decision or a remaining Beatles and their next of kin decision?
My guess is that all they'd have to do is license the solo stuff if it's not already part of the Apple Corps catalog (which I'm assuming it isn't). And, if they hadn't already, then they'd have to get permission.
I get that some people, perhaps, don't want to re-live the Beatles breaking up. I just don't believe them to be part of the target audience.
I played this briefly the other day, and there was one little touch that I LOVED.
When you pause the game and then start up again, it shows the note track and does a brief countdown before starting again. No more missed notes just because you had to pause! It is the simplest thing, but something every music game should have from now on.
Another thing I liked was the accuracy in showing who's singing when, who's playing what, etc. Other music games only have one singer on stage no matter how many people are actually singing on that track. In this game, if George is singing lead, he's shown singing and playing. If John and Paul are doing the vocals, they switch back and forth. Even in something like "Yellow Submarine" where John pops in for a few background quips, the mouth on his character animation moves appropriately.
There was one big concern I had though, and I doubt it's been changed because I haven't seen anyone mention it..... I think that always playing the same instruments in the same costumes with the same characters in the same venues will get old pretty fast. I haven't heard anyone say that you can play different songs in different locations. It seems like every time you play Sgt. Peppers, you get the dreamscape. If that's not true please let me know. Can I play songs from the Ed Sullivan show in the Abbey Road studio? Can I wear Sgt. Pepper costumes on the rooftop? Sure its not accurate but I would think it could unlock after you beat the song the "right" way.
Also, I understand that they wanted a sameness of art style, but if the visuals for each song are indeed ALWAYS the same, why not use more live action archival footage from concerts, TV appearances, and movies?
Final critique....the game should have had three-part guitar to go with that three-part vocal. Sure you couldn't do all three AND drums locally, but they could have given you the option for local play of doing bass/guitar/guitar or bass/guitar/drums. Seeing as how this is a stand alone game, that would have been a nice change of pace from other music titles.
Overall, loved the game. Even though you can't export tracks I'm strongly leaning towards a buy.
That's kind of a shame. Seems like it will reduce replayability, and makes the logic behind having CG versions of the characters make even less sense. If the backgrounds for each song NEVER change, why not just use real footage and photos? Why not play over the actual real TV footage from the Ed Sullivan show?
This game shouldn't really matter to the average consumer anyways. It's aimed at Beatles fans. They're the ones that are going to keep following this game. They'll be happy with it. Harmonix has a lot of credit when it comes to bringing content. If this was an Activision/Neversoft deal, they would probably be worried. An average consumer will probably drop this game in a week or so. Fans will keep it going. So, either get on the yellow submarine, or don't. Fans will be happy, everybody else will be happy with something else. Everybody wins.
What you're paying for is 45 songs by The Beatles and the promise of more Beatles music to purchase down the road.
Good. I hate the obvious "padding" that the non-band songs in those titles brings.
The Beatles is an example of a band-centric title done right. It's all about the band, and leave the other bands out. Not to mention that supporting it with DLC is infinitely more than the fire and forget strategy that is the Hero band-centric discs.
@TRT-X: Yes. I don't want filler from other bands. I'm buying this for the Beatles, my wife wants to play this because it's the Beatles. I don't give a rip who the Beatles were inspired by.
I would actually say that including all those other bands' songs in Guitar Hero Metallica and Aerosmith was a bad thing. If I'm playing Guitar Hero Metallica, I just wanna play Metallica songs.
I was worried that Harmonix would include a bunch of crappy extra songs nobody wanted to play in the first place, and am pleasantly surprised to hear it contains only Beatles songs.
I would strongly recommend buying a disc-only cop of RB2. It's available pretty cheap now and would give you a ton of songs to add to your RB1 tracks. You could then export the RB1 tracks to your hard drive and play them in RB2.
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Chances are EA is going to lose money on this until the game receives a significant price drop.
09/06/09
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09/09/09
Clearly YOU don't. Because then you'd realize they're not the ones giving these rhythm games multi-million unit sales.
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Really, I'd enjoy this game the most if I could BE George or John, playing their guitar part and singing their part of the harmony.
09/06/09
(1) Why would you want "Rock Band" to play differently? That's just stupid. If they made changes, then I'll have to buy new plastic instruments -- and why would I want to do that, when the plastic guitars for RB1 work perfectly fine.
(2) Why would you want "filler songs"? The Beatles have how many albums and how many songs? Already, there's quite a few popular songs that are missing for the 45 on the disc.
09/06/09
One thing I've always felt should've been there from the beginning is timing judgement. The ability for players to freely select their own scrolling speed would be great, too. Stop treating speed like a cheat. We shouldn't all be locked to a slow speed if someone is on Easy and everyone else is on Expert.
09/06/09
Also, why not have some of the solo stuff for after they broke up? Perhaps even introduce it as a separate branch that put the songs back on par with the original Guitar Hero games where you do just one or two parts rather than the whole thing.
Then, for a kicker, perhaps an alternate-reality section where they accepted Lorne Michaels's piddly $4,000 check to re-unite on Saturday Night Live. They'd play "Come Together" just for their own amusement.
09/06/09
Any solo material (if it comes) will be brought into the main Rock Band series. Not this game.
09/08/09
Yes, but was that a Harmonix decision or a remaining Beatles and their next of kin decision?
My guess is that all they'd have to do is license the solo stuff if it's not already part of the Apple Corps catalog (which I'm assuming it isn't). And, if they hadn't already, then they'd have to get permission.
I get that some people, perhaps, don't want to re-live the Beatles breaking up. I just don't believe them to be part of the target audience.
09/05/09
When you pause the game and then start up again, it shows the note track and does a brief countdown before starting again. No more missed notes just because you had to pause! It is the simplest thing, but something every music game should have from now on.
Another thing I liked was the accuracy in showing who's singing when, who's playing what, etc. Other music games only have one singer on stage no matter how many people are actually singing on that track. In this game, if George is singing lead, he's shown singing and playing. If John and Paul are doing the vocals, they switch back and forth. Even in something like "Yellow Submarine" where John pops in for a few background quips, the mouth on his character animation moves appropriately.
There was one big concern I had though, and I doubt it's been changed because I haven't seen anyone mention it..... I think that always playing the same instruments in the same costumes with the same characters in the same venues will get old pretty fast. I haven't heard anyone say that you can play different songs in different locations. It seems like every time you play Sgt. Peppers, you get the dreamscape. If that's not true please let me know. Can I play songs from the Ed Sullivan show in the Abbey Road studio? Can I wear Sgt. Pepper costumes on the rooftop? Sure its not accurate but I would think it could unlock after you beat the song the "right" way.
Also, I understand that they wanted a sameness of art style, but if the visuals for each song are indeed ALWAYS the same, why not use more live action archival footage from concerts, TV appearances, and movies?
Final critique....the game should have had three-part guitar to go with that three-part vocal. Sure you couldn't do all three AND drums locally, but they could have given you the option for local play of doing bass/guitar/guitar or bass/guitar/drums. Seeing as how this is a stand alone game, that would have been a nice change of pace from other music titles.
Overall, loved the game. Even though you can't export tracks I'm strongly leaning towards a buy.
09/06/09
09/09/09
That's kind of a shame. Seems like it will reduce replayability, and makes the logic behind having CG versions of the characters make even less sense. If the backgrounds for each song NEVER change, why not just use real footage and photos? Why not play over the actual real TV footage from the Ed Sullivan show?
09/05/09
09/05/09
Good. I hate the obvious "padding" that the non-band songs in those titles brings.
The Beatles is an example of a band-centric title done right. It's all about the band, and leave the other bands out. Not to mention that supporting it with DLC is infinitely more than the fire and forget strategy that is the Hero band-centric discs.
09/06/09
09/05/09
I was worried that Harmonix would include a bunch of crappy extra songs nobody wanted to play in the first place, and am pleasantly surprised to hear it contains only Beatles songs.
09/05/09
Or any other releases for that matter or is the instruments I have now obsolete and I have to go pick up another space hogging set just to keep up?
I haven't touched the musical rhythem genre since one but I might have to for this, I love the Beatles!
09/05/09
09/05/09
Yes you can use RB1 instruments in Beatles.
I would strongly recommend buying a disc-only cop of RB2. It's available pretty cheap now and would give you a ton of songs to add to your RB1 tracks. You could then export the RB1 tracks to your hard drive and play them in RB2.
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09/05/09
I am shocked.
SHOCKED.